Fox News Employee Commits Career Suicide, Leaves Behind Object Lesson For The Rest Of Us

Gawker's anonymous '
Fox Mole' posted his first dispatch about the goings-on behind the scenes at Fox News on April 10 at 3:11PM. Less than 36 hours later, he was put on indefinite leave by the network. To Gawker readers, he's now Joe Muto and he claims he has much more dirt to spill on his (soon-to-be) former employer. He's also the latest in a rash of high-profile stories of employees not going gentle into that good night - Greg Smith of Goldman Sachs, Carol Bartz of Yahoo!, that kooky JetBlue flight attendant who exited via the emergency slide and Keith Olbermann from pretty much every place he's ever worked.

Now matter how much you loathe your employer and dream about going out in a blaze of glory, refusing to leave quietly, trying to sink the whole org or lashing out on your way out is always a terrible career move. Here's why:

You will always look worse than the organization

Unless your departure also involves revealing illegal or unethical dealings for which you have scrupulously documented evidence, you’re going to look like the jerk if you kick up a fuss. Doesn’t matter if you have the moral high ground; Occam’s Razor says that it’s easier to believe that you’re a lone employee with a grudge lashing out at an easy target vs. a righteous crusader who says what other cowed employees refuse to. And if you’re leaving a powerful employer (or a church) on very bad terms, don’t doubt that they have the PR clout to back up such a narrative.

You will be an industry pariah

People talk. Even if your departure wasn’t a public spectacle, leaving with bad feelings, initiating confrontations or writing a 12-paper resignation letter makes you fodder for industry gossip. Word of your poor parting will get around. Count on it. And while you may think your sector is large enough that you can fade into anonymity, the reality of job mobility, networking events/professional associations and competitors who keep tabs on one another means that what happened at your old company will most certainly reach the ears of any prospective new companies. And more than a few hiring managers will think twice about hiring someone who has demonstrated in the most obvious way possible that they don’t play well with others and has a track record of making impulsive, myopic decisions.

You can’t predict the long-term damage to your career

Life takes some weird twists and turns. While Joe Muto may be relatively sure that he never wants to darken the doors of Fox News again, he can’t say with certainty that he’d never find himself competing for a job with another News Corp property. And he definitely can’t rule out the possibility that an old Fox boss or colleague might end up calling the shots somewhere else that he might want to work in the future. Or that a prospective new employer won’t Google his name and get an eyeful or call FOX’s HR department and get an earful. The momentary satisfaction of burning a bridge eventually gives way to the reality that you’re stuck smelling like smoke for a really long time and you’ve left yourself with no clear way across the river should you ever need to get back to the other side. Not smart.